Brands Capitalize On The Harlem Shake

For the past month, the viral breakout “Harlem Shake” videos have been immensely entertaining people around the world. The first video was uploaded on YouTube by five teens in Australia, and since then there have been 12,000 others that have reproduced the act. With 44 million impressions, talk about a home run for the artist Baauer, whose single is now #1 on iTunes and the Billboard Top 100.

These videos are going viral because they are short, funny and have a hypnotic beat. All you really need is one camera and a few people looking to dance for a few seconds. Moreover, these videos level the playing field for fans and celebrities. You don’t have to be famous to make it big on YouTube; you can get there in many other ways.

For brands, it’s all about capitalizing at its peak – and a video like this can secure a lot of organic public relations impressions. You have about one week’s time to join in. Riding a current viral trend is an awesome way to get your brand out there. It’s always amusing when big organizations such as Pepsi and Google can get involved in the action, especially when it is done at their offices with all the employees. It just seems to me like these videos put everyone in a good mood – creating or watching them. What do you think will be the next viral YouTube video?

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